A 53'' Moose named Bruce

How many of us can deny that there hasn’t been a time at least once where they walked into a store for product A and walked out with something that they had no plans to buy, don’t need and probably won’t use more than once? Not many. In fact, there are products out there that are made and marketed to the impulse buyer (example A is the Snuggie). Then there are salesmen out there just waiting for the opportunity to turn your shopping trip into an impulse buy (car salesmen are a classic example).

My impulse buying falls into the Snuggie category (of which I do have one). One of my last purchases is a great example of this kind of impulse shopping. My boyfriend and I had gone to Costco to grab the basics – paper towels, some food, and men’s slacks. Instead, that trip changed the second we saw a bin full of giant 53’’ Moose. There was no denying that this was something we wanted and not because we needed it but because it was a giant Moose, completely irrelevant and hilarious. It became a must buy, and once we saw the price (which was a steal!) the game was over. In fact we wanted the Moose so bad that we even removed items from our cart to make sure we had enough money on us to buy the Moose. That is a classic impulse buy, and now we have a giant Moose (wearing a Mariner’s jersey of course) sitting in our living room.

This kind of buying and the experience is completely different than say buying a car. When my car finally died a few years ago, I started a crazed search for a new one. This required research online about various car makes and models, comparing and contrasting the merits of buying new versus used, and refining what I definitely needed and what was more of a luxury item (heated seats were a must). By the end I could have recited the Kelly Blue Book prices for a dozen cars, and knew which lots had what in terms of inventory. The thing that surprised me most about purchasing my newly used car though was how quick I was in saying no to certain car makes or models because of the associations I made with the cars – Volkswagens reminded of soccer moms, mini vans were for soccer dads, Lexus was too luxurious, Toyota Camry’s were for mom’s who wanted safety and, the list went on. Also, unlike the Moose which was bought without any scrutiny, when it came to looking at a specific car I looked at every inch and asked a million questions.

Overall, buying a car was a completely different experience and process than buying a giant Moose. And for me, looking back at both purchases, what accounts for the differences between the two had to do with cost and ultimate use. Having a car was a necessity and therefore I was willing to pay more, but since I was paying more I wanted to be more thorough. The Moose was not a necessity and I would only pay a very little for it, and so I didn’t need to think about it at all once it meet the cheap requirement. Overall, two different experiences that luckily for me have no consumer regret.